Today Jason Buck is joined by Noel Smith in the second of our series on Volatility. Topics discussed include: the benefits of ensemble investing, the predictability of market volatility, how certain market environments fool investors into thinking they are better than they really are, allocating between different strategies during different market environments, why nothing beats having ‘skin in the game’, balancing judgement calls versus algorithmic calls, pairs-trading VIX & bonds, determining when an asset is cheap or overpriced,   and some thoughts on what might happen if markets enter a ‘stagflationary’ environment.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: http://bit.ly/36bzny2

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels, Jason & Noel on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive, @jasonmutiny, & @NoelConvex

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes so more people can discover the podcast.

02 Volatility Series ft Noel Smith — November 3rd, 2021

What if our most trusted economic statistic is pointing us in the wrong direction? Diane Coyle joins Kevin Coldiron to explore why GDP - long treated as a proxy for progress - now obscures more than it reveals. As economies shift toward services, intangibles, and unpaid digital labor, much of today’s value creation falls outside the frame. Drawing on her new book, The Measure of Progress, Coyle makes the case for a new way of seeing - one that captures time, trust, and the real foundations of growth. The question isn’t how fast we’re moving. It’s whether we’re measuring the right road.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Kevin on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @kcold1

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

IL40: Why the Economy Feels Broken... Even When It’s Growing ft. Diane Coyle

From the first futures in 1848 to today’s zero-day options, Cem Karsan, Mandy Xu, and Ed Tom chart how derivatives have moved from the market’s periphery to its center of gravity. At the core is Cboe’s new VIX decomposition tool, which disentangles moves driven by downside hedging, upside speculation, and shifts in the volatility surface. Through episodes like the yuan shock, Volmageddon, and 2024’s “Liberation Day,” they show how positioning can amplify or mute risk, and why vol sometimes rises into rallies. This is a guided tour of volatility’s inner workings, and how reading its structure can reveal the market’s next move before price does.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Cem on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @jam_croissant

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

UGO05: Volatility’s Blueprint: How Markets Really Move ft. Mandy Xu & Ed Tom

Louis-Vincent Gave returns with a blunt assessment of a global order fraying at key seams. Construction is stalling. Trade policy is adrift. Capital is retreating from the U.S. And yet, markets hum along... propped up by AI euphoria and the illusion of fiscal permanence. In this conversation with Alan Dunne, Louis questions whether investors grasp the shifting ground beneath their feet: from rising tariff walls to energy fragility, from the quiet restructuring of China’s financial system to the early signals of capital rotation into emerging markets. If this is a transition phase, most portfolios aren’t built for what comes next.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Alan on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @alanjdunne

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

GM86: Everyone’s Watching the Fed. The Real Story’s Somewhere Else. ft. Louis Vincent-Gave

Mike Azlen joins Moritz Seibert for a frank look at carbon markets, and why much of what passes for climate action may be making things worse. While offsets dominate headlines, it's the regulated markets that deliver real emissions cuts by design, not intention. They unpack how cap-and-trade channels profit into abatement, why moral hazard plagues the voluntary space, and where long-only investors can find a real risk premium. From structural inefficiencies to measurable impact, this is a conversation about aligning incentives with outcomes - in a market where price isn’t just a signal, but a lever.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Moritz on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @MoritzSeibert

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes, Spotify or Amazon so more people can discover the podcast.

OI18: The Carbon Trade, Without the Illusion ft. Mike Azlen

As trend following begins to reassert itself, Niels and Nick Baltas dig beneath the surface of recent CTA performance - where the signals are working, why fixed income remains unresolved, and how speed is revealing deeper structural divides. But this episode goes beyond attribution. What if the industry has mistaken correlation shifts for changes in signal speed? What if the very idea of a “trend beta” is flawed? And what if compounding durable returns isn’t about chasing performance, but protecting against path? This is a conversation about design over style, clarity over convention, and the quiet decisions that shape real outcomes.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: https://www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Nick on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @nbaltas

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

SI363: The Misreading of Trend ft. Nick Baltas

What if knowing you isn’t the end goal... but shaping you is? In this episode, Kevin Coldiron speaks with Columbia professor Sandra Matz about how algorithms trained on our clicks, searches, and faces don’t just predict our behavior - they influence it. They unpack how personalization narrows possibility, why convenience can come at the cost of resilience, and what happens when machines learn to mirror us better than we mirror each other. From the false promise of data consent to the quiet collapse of complexity, this is a conversation about power, psychology, and the systems quietly remaking the human experience.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Kevin on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @kcold1

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

IL41: They’re Not Just Reading You... They’re Rewriting You ft. Sandra Matz

Katy Kaminski returns to explore why results in trend following rarely look alike, even when the rules sound the same. Using fresh research from Man Group and Quantica, she and Niels trace the fingerprints of design choices: the pace of signals, how portfolios tilt, whether to add carry, and the impact of alternative markets. Along the way they connect these differences to today’s landscape, from the Fed’s looming decision to Europe’s bond jitters, from gas and power’s outsized role in recent Alternative CTA returns to the risks of crowding. It’s a clear-eyed discussion about how systematic strategies evolve - and why dispersion matters.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Katy on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @katykam

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

SI365: Design or Luck: Why Trend Following Results Diverge ft. Katy Kaminski

Richard Tomlinson joins Alan Dunne for a conversation shaped by experience, not theory. As CIO of LPPI, Richard is responsible for £27 billion in pension assets - but what stands out here is the clarity with which he navigates complexity. From the fading utility of labels like “illiquidity premium” and “hedge fund” to the trade-offs between cost, alignment, and control, this episode is about building portfolios that work in the real world - not just in a model. They explore inflation’s structural drivers, the quiet rise of fiscal dominance, and why some of the industry’s most comfortable assumptions no longer hold. It’s not about being contrarian - it’s about being clear-eyed.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "Ten Reasons to Add Trend Following to Your Portfolio" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/10-reasons-optin

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Alan on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @alanjdunne

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

ALO31: What If the Illiquidity Premium Was Never Real? ft. Richard Tomlinson

Vlad Tenev, CEO of Robinhood joins Cem Karsan at the Hood Summit in Las Vegas, for a timely conversation about the shifting edge in markets. From memories of hyperinflation in Bulgaria to unlocking tools once reserved for institutions, Vlad outlines how Robinhood is positioning retail for a different kind of market regime. Futures, short selling, 24-hour options, AI-driven trade simulation, and embedded social features aren’t just upgrades - they’re signals. With market structure evolving and a historic wealth transfer underway, this episode captures a platform staking its claim on the next generation of capital allocators - and the volatility they’ll inherit.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Cem on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @jam_croissant

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.

UGO06: Democratizing the Asymmetric Trade ft. Vlad Tenev



Cem Karsan joins Alan Dunne to chart a market running on more than just momentum. Beneath the surface: a structural liquidity engine, political incentives aligned with asset reflation, and a surge in non-correlated flows reshaping risk itself. As institutions scramble to catch up and volatility begins to rise with price, Cem draws on lessons from the late 90s to explain why the real story is not about valuation - but positioning. From AI’s misunderstood impact to the growing role of options, gold, and crypto, this is a portrait of a regime defined not by fundamentals, but by reflex and constraint.

IT's TRUE 👀 - most CIO's read 50+ books each year - get your copy of the Ultimate Guide to the Best Investment Books ever written here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/Ultimate

And you can get a free copy of my latest book "The Many Flavors of Trend Following" here: www.toptradersunplugged.com/book

Send your questions to info@toptradersunplugged.com

Follow Niels & Cem on Twitter:
@TopTradersLive & @jam_croissant

And please share this episode with a like-minded friend and leave an honest rating & review on iTunes and Spotify so more people can discover the podcast.


SI368: Valuation Has Left the Room ft. Cem Karsan & Alan Dunne

Niels Kaastrup-Larsen | Trend Following Expert | 10-Year+ Podcast with 10M+ Downloads | Talks about Alternative Investments, Hedge Funds, Global Macro, Geo-Politics, Commodities, Quant Investing, Crypto, and Volatility. Join the conversation!

02 Volatility Series ft Noel Smith — November 3rd, 2021

TopTradersUnplugged.com

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